Three weeks and counting! European Study Abroad: The Netherlands Set to Depart

I’m sure you’ve been enchanted by Disney’s Beauty and the Beast at some point in your life. Well, I say ‘enchanted.’ It’s probably closer to indoctrinated. Hopeless romantic that I am, I did not escape the intoxicating thrall of the story. Tending to be bookish myself, I instantly connected with Belle, the misfit that preferred unknown adventure to the everyday average.

I used to warble along with Belle, “I want adventure in the great wide somewhere! I want it more than I can tell!” like it was my personal mantra.

Well, it has finally happened. My chance for adventure in the great wide somewhere has finally arrived, courtesy of Florida Tech’s  School of Arts and Communication Study Abroad program.  In three short weeks I will be boarding a plane to the Netherlands, motherland to Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Anne Frank. While studying Global Communication, we will be travelling to the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium—the land of Old Europe, where fairytales were born. I’m not sure what I’m most excited about—the picturesque villages, the castles, the chocolate, the cathedrals, or the once-in-a-lifetime chance to study global communication in an international context.

As Belle says, I’m not sure I can properly convey how excited I am about the study abroad opportunity, or the countless hours spent in gleeful anticipation. What I can do, or at least attempt, is tell you about the adventures we encounter as part of the School of Arts and Communication study abroad program. Please continue to check back as we get closer to departure as my classmates and I will hopefully post stories worthy of Belle herself (although I’m not entirely sure of the feasibility of finding an enchanted castle ruled over by an angry, yet misunderstood beast, but I’ll do my best!).

Countdown to departure: 20 days.